NEW DELHI: L K Advani, Amitabh Bachchan, thespian Dilip Kumar and Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal were on Sunday chosen for this year's Padma Vibhushan, the second highest civilian honour, as government gave a saffron touch honouring eminent people of various fields in this year's list of Padma awardees.

Former CEC N Gopalaswami, Microsoft chief Bill Gates and his wife Melinda were selected for Padma Bhushan in the list of 104 people whose names were released on the eve of Republic day.

This list comprises nine Padma Vibhushan, 20 Padma Bhushan and 75 Padma Shri awardees. 17 of them were women and equal number were in the category of foreigners, NRIs, PIOs and four posthumous awardees.